Starting position #46
Back-rank setup: NNQRKBBR
SP-46 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 916.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 253 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +37 → +34 → +19 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #916
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 485 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h5 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c5 (b3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 (a3·15) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b7 (a5·24) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (f3·35) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: queen to d7 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (h8·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to e8 (c8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: knight to e5 (f3·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 (d6·20) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 102
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Commentary
The king begins on e1, as in the classical setup, but the rook already stands on d1 — long castling moves the king alone. A knight starts in the corner on a1 and can only go to b3. The bishops on f1 and g1 stand together, opening onto a6, h3, a7 and h2. Among the pawns, a2 has no defender at the start. The main line of the run opens e4 e6, then f3 c5 c4 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.